Dirk recently did our specialist Northern Cape Diamond and Dunes tour which visits some of the lesser known areas of South Africa.  As always the Kgalagadi doesn't disappoint.

Having not been into the Kgalagadi in over 8 years I was very excited to see what it had to offer.  On my last trip we had great sightings of 3 big cats and incredible birding – so my expectations were high.

After a fairly long drive from Kimberly we arrived at the park, checked in and had an easy afternoon around the pool, as my clients wanted to rest and not go out on a game drive.

Early the next morning we set out along the Nossob River in search of the cats. After 45min I thought I saw something move at the top of one the sand dunes overlooking one of the waterholes. I had a look through my binoculars and saw two eyes looking down at us, it was a Cheetah!! We watched as the young female strolled down the dune and towards the waterhole.  Unfortunately there was no game around for her to hunt so she came to the waterhole had a quick drink and headed off into the distance of the shimmering red sands of the Kalahari.

After such a wonderful sighting we had a good wholesome breakfast (breakfast in the middle of nowhere is my favourite) and we turned around and slowly started to make our way back to camp.

En-route we came across a land cruiser sitting in the shade of a large camel thorn acacia and stopped to ask how their morning game drive had gone and what they had seen. The driver told me to take my binoculars out and have a look on-top of the ridge to our right.  Low and behold, on top of the ridge I saw 8 lions starring back at me. I tried showed the clients where to look but they couldn’t see the lions. After a few minutes luckily the lions stood up and headed our way, coming down the ridge the youngsters started to play and chase each other…

What a start to our time is the Kgalagadi!

The following day we didn’t have the same luck with cats as on the first but managed to see some great general game as well as awesome birds. The Kgalagadi is renowned as a birders paradise especially for the raptors. We were very lucky to see a Martial eagle come down to drink at one of the waterholes we were sitting at. Shortly after a short drink it took off and headed down the valley in search of some lunch. As we watched it flying away I noticed some ground squirrels a few hundred meters down the road that didn’t see the eagle. I told the clients to watch the squirrels as the eagle had also spotted them.  The eagle did a circle around the back of some camel thorns and came swooping down on them!  If you have ever seen the size of a marshal eagle you will know this bird is a serious raptor and caught one the squirrels just behind its head… Lunch is served!!!

We had a truly remarkable three days in the Kgalagadi and it was as spectacular as I remember.  I can’t wait to go back!